This project focused on five case-study schools at the forefront of a widespread transformation in the relationship between teacher/practitioner and child.
Project summary
Systematic data collection about young children - whether through observation methods and measures or other means - are part and parcel of twenty-first century early childhood research and reflective practice; however, this was not always the case.
This project focused on five case-study schools at the forefront of a widespread transformation in the relationship between teacher/practitioner and child, a transformation which happened in the context of empathy-infused child-centred settings on the one hand, and scientific, observation-based research-informed pedagogy on the other.
The study’s specific objectives were:
- to investigate how individual practitioners/teachers understood and engaged in their work as groundbreaking researchers and carer-educators of children
- to describe the scientific, social, political and other dynamics and their influence on the way research with children was undertaken and understood in these particular schools and in their broader local/national and transnational contexts
- to investigate the conceptualization of the child as subject and object of research in these schools, and the status of research-based knowledge about children within the institutions and the field, connecting with inquiries into the theoretical underpinnings of Froebelian approaches.
Data stemmed from archival fieldwork and analysis of school records and other published and unpublished primary sources.
The knowledge mobilization plan includes the dissemination of the outcomes of the research in academic and professional publications and conferences.
The research team are producing a series of occasional papers, based on their research project. These will be published and shared here in 2023/2024.
Publications to download:
- The Learning Career of Teacher Meredith Smith (1871-1956) Influences from Froebel and Dewey by Larry Prochner - December 2023
- “Let’s Find Out” Reimagining the Young Child as a Research Worker 1920s-1960s by Helen May - July 2022
- Alice Meirelles Reis: Discourses of Practice and Ways of Seeing by Alessandra Acre Hai - August 2024
About the researchers
Larry Prochner is a professor of early childhood education at the University of Alberta, Canada. His research centres on the historical, comparative, and international dimensions of teaching and curriculum in early education.
Helen May is an emeritus professor at the University of Otago and an adjunct professor at Victoria University Wellington. She is the author of a number of books on early years history including Discovery of Early Childhood (1997, 2013) and Politics in the Playground (2001, 2009, 2019).
Dr. Kristen Nawrotzki teaches at Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg, in Germany. She has published numerous works on the history of the kindergarten and other aspects of early childhood education and care in the US, the UK and transnationally.
Alessandra Arce Hai, associate professor at Federal University of São Carlos, São Paulo State, Brazil. Research interests: Social emotional learning, mindfulness applications, teachers well being, history of education and compassion in education.
